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Ethan winces, his unhappiness evident in the stifling aura surrounding us. He might not be alpha by birth but he’d give most of the ones I’ve met a good run for their money in terms of dominance. Shaking my head, I tip my head toward the packhouse.
“It’s okay. Liv, Will, could you go on ahead and give us a moment? I’ll catch up.”
With a hesitant look at Ethan, Liv nods, and loops her arm through Will’s and drags him away. The second they’re out of ear shot, Ethan surges forward and traps me against the front door, an arm on either side of my shoulders, caging me in. My head spins with his intoxicating scent and my eyes drop to the hollow of this throat and his tanned skin. I have an overwhelming urge to dip my tongue into it and lick up his neck.
“Belle, I’m so sorry.” His warm hands cup my cheeks and he buries his face in the crook of my neck, breathing deeply. I can feel his relief in seeing me, and his pain in being apart. “But you’re my mate, please don’t shut me out. Talk to me.”
My wolf whimpers, wanting to throw our arms around him and hold him tight, but I can’t be a fool. Pressing my hands to his chest, I shove him backwards to regain some space. Gulping in air that isn’t filled with his tantalising smell, I clench my fists and force myself to be strong.
“This is her pack then? She’s here?” I’m furious with myself when my voice cracks. Ethan’s fingers twitch and he steps toward me again. “Stay back,” I hiss. “I need to be able to think!”
Wrapping my arms around myself, as if that’s going to help me keep it together, I wait. I feel like I’m falling apart at the seams. He’s here, but instead of being thrilled to see him, I’m devastated because I know he’s not here to see me. This is just an unfortunate coincidence.
“Fuck!” Lacing his fingers in his hair, he pulls at it so hard I expect to see clumps come away in his hands. “We need to talk. But not here. Please, Belle. It’s not what it seems.”
My gut tells me to believe him, sensing the truth to his words.
“Please,” he whispers, holding a hand out to me. My resolve weakens. He looks so tortured that it’s hard not to believe him.
Maybe there is a good explanation. As his mate, I know I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Once. “This has to do with your mission. You can’t tell her because you need her.”
Looking like his world is falling down around him, he nods and an ugly feeling surges through my chest. He should only need me. No other woman.
Jealousy burns within me, and I grab the doorknob, trying to escape inside the house, running away rather than facing the chaotic emotions swirling through me.
With a hard slam, Ethan pins me to the door, his hand covering mine to stop me from fleeing. His chest against my back is heaving, and his hot breath on my neck has my body turning to jelly.
“Not like that. I don’t need anyone else like that. Only you. Talk to me, Belle. Don’t run.” His voice is soft and soothing, and I relax a little, finding it easier to be brave when I can’t see his face.
“I’m jealous. Even if I believe you, my wolf is furious, and I want to kick the shit out of you first and her second.” His fingers caress my hip, calming me while I admit how I feel. “I’ll help you. It’s what I do. You don’t need her.” Even as I say the words, I know he wouldn’t string someone along if there wasn’t a good reason.
“I know, but I won’t be able to focus. If we were working together, do you think I’d be able to resist taking you to bed and claiming you, over and over again?”
I’m panting now, squirming as I feel Ethan’s cock pressing into my lower back, as if to prove he’s telling the truth.
“Even now, when I know we’d be caught, all I want to do it drag you inside, fuck you and mark you as mine.” A needy moan falls from my lips as his teeth graze my earlobe and give it a gentle tug. “All fucking mine. But I can’t. And it’s killing me.” His hands travel across my stomach, slipping fingers past the waistband of my jeans and teasing the lace trim of my underwear. “I dreamt about you last night. About your sweet pussy. And how fucking furious I was that I wasn’t with you, buried inside you, filling you with my cum.”
Arching my back to allow him more room to manoeuvre, his fingers slide a little lower and I gasp as one finger slips through my wetness.
“Do you forgive me? There’s something bad coming, I know it. Please tell me you understand why I can’t just leave.”
When I nod, his lips brush against my neck and his tongue traces my marking spot. He opens his mouth to speak, but a feminine voice calling his name sounds in the distance.
We both freeze.
“Oh no, no, no, no…” I recognise that voice. He cannot be for real. Spinning in his arms, I thump my fist against his chest angrily. “You are a jackass. You didn’t think to mention this part either?”
With a wicked grin, he leans down and closes his eyes, relishing the scent of my arousal in the air around us. He pops his finger, still glistening with my juices, into his mouth and sucks hard, swirling his tongue around the tip. “I was distracted. You make me lose my mind, Belle.”
Ethan looks calm, but panic rises inside me at the sound of footsteps approaching. Her perfume carries on the air, and I stifle a growl. I don’t want another woman near my mate, let alone watching him walk off with one.
My palms sweat and my heart is pounding. I’m not ready for this.
“Belle, look at me. None of this is real. Remember that.” Ethan steps back, increasing the space between us to a less intimate distance.
I’m about to snap at him, something about it feeling pretty fucking real to me, when Lucia Anderson steps around the corner. Her cool, assessing gaze takes in the two of us standing on the porch. I’ve seen her before, at meetings and conferences I’ve attended with Blake. She is as poised and graceful as usual, always elegantly dressed, and smiling at my mate like he’s the love of her life.
Ethan smoothly replaces the smouldering look he’s been giving me with a casual smile, and I’m startled by how easy it was for him to do. Meanwhile, I’m struggling to stop myself from falling to the ground and weeping, or shifting on the spot so I can rip her pretty face off.
